February Favourites

  Think it’s safe to say this year is going far too quickly… how is it March already?!  Here are a few of my favourite things from February.

  First up in the list of my favourite things from February (woah, alliteration) are these Elegant Touch Express false nails.  I’m not usually an artificial nail lover but I fancied a bit of a treat and so picked these up from Boots in the colour Bright Pink.  

  These ones are the type that are pre-glued, so you just peel off the sticker and stick them straight on without having to fiddle around with tiny glue bottles.  I presumed that the stick on nails would be useless and fall off straight away so I bought a nail glue to put on as well to give them extra stick.  When it came to putting on the nails, I just matched up the ones that were closest to my nail size and used a nail file to make a couple of them a little bit smaller.  Annoyingly, my glue I had bought then wouldn’t work so I just decided to stick these on, expecting them to fall off the next day.  How wrong was I!  It’s now 17 days later and not a single one has fallen off! 

  At first I was super careful and barely let water touch my hands, and when I did I’d blow dry my fingers with a hairdryer, but after a week I stopped bothering.  I can’t believe how good these are, I didn’t expect them to stay on for more than a few days, let alone two and a half weeks!  They come in some other lovely bright colours too, so I’ll definitely be purchasing these again!

  Next up are my makeup favourites of the month.  All of this months makeup favourites are actually taken from Zoella’s ‘Drugstore Valentines Makeup Tutorial’.  My makeup essentials were getting a bit tired so after watching this video I decided to try out some of the products she recommended.  

  First up is the Bourjois blusher in the shade 34 Rose D’or.  I’ve never really used blusher because I’ve got pale skin and I was worried that it would just make me look red in the face.  When Zoe used this blush in her video however, it looked very light pink and shimmery so I thought I’d give it a try and I absolutely love it!  It adds a hint of colour to my cheeks without being overpowering and making me look over made up. 

  I’d heard many good things about the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and I’d been using my current one for years so thought I’d try something new.  It has great coverage and I’ve now sometimes started just wearing this concealer over any blemishes on low make up days – it’s a great confidence booster!  It also really brightens under eye darkness and makes me look much more awake!

  Next up is the Bourjois Volume Clubbing Ultra Black mascara.  I thought I’d try this product because I was using three different mascaras on top of each other to get the look I wanted, so desired something a bit bolder that I could just wear on its own.  This mascara is great – it’s super black and makes my eyelashes look SO long, without clumping them all together which I hate.  Big thumbs up from me!

  The last make up product which stands out as a favourite for this month was the Rimmel Kate Moss matte lipstick in the shade 107.  This was again recommended in Zoella’s Valentines day video, but one of my housemates also said it was great so I decided to try it for myself.  I adore this shade, it’s a dark red without being stupidly dark and overdramatic for my pale skin.  It’s a matte lipstick which I love and its lasting power is amazing!  A waitress complemented it after I’d chomped through a burger and fries so I think that demonstrates how well it stays on!

   Perhaps a slightly random item to feature in my February favourites are these Kleenex tissues which I bought from Sainsbury’s.  I just love this super cute tissue box – most people have tissue boxes lying around their houses and I just thought this was a really pretty one which acted as decoration as well as its purpose!

  I bought this cute jam jar style glass from Tesco. I’d seen ones similar online and really wanted one, so when I spotted this purple tinted one for only £3.50 I knew I had to grab it!  I like having a big cup of water in my room to just drink as I’m working and I thought this was really pretty!  We’re already planning to buy some in different colours to go in our new house next year.

  While this perfume is not my absolute favourite one in the world (I have to admit I’m a Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede lover), I can’t afford to wear that one every single day (student budgets and all that).  This one from Next was given to me for Christmas and I was a bit unsure about it at first because I’m used to more expensive perfumes and cheap ones can often be a bit gross.  However this one, which is ‘Boutique Candy’, is absolutely lovely for every day wear.  The box says ‘fruity and floral’ which I think is a perfect description – it’s sweet without being sickly and a good affordable perfume at only £6.50 if you don’t want to be using an expensive one for every day working life.

  If you read my last blog post then you’ll already know that I’m a big fan of Tanya Burr’s book “Love,Tanya” which came out in January but thought I’d include it in my favourites because it’s definitely my favourite book of the month!  It’s a lovely book crammed full of beauty and confidence tips, first date advice and delicious recipes.  It’s a great book to dip in to and read little snippets of for a pick me up – I adore it, I think she’s done a fabulous job with it.

Doesn't look so blue here, it is I promise!

  My last favourite of the month is in the clothing area, and it’s this beautiful blue and white kimono from New Look.  I’ve been wanting one for a while that I could just throw on to make a plain outfit a bit more exciting, but a lot of them are quite expensive and way out of my budget.  I, by chance, stumbled across this one in New Look and thought it was beautiful – the details on it are pretty but not too over the top – and because I’m very small I didn’t want one too long because I thought it might look like I was drowning in fabric.  It’s super comfy and jazzes up plain outfits, and at only £19.99 I think it’s a bargain!

  So there we have my favourite things for the month of February.  I've linked them all to where you can buy them - I’d recommend all the products I’ve mentioned so let me know if you’ve tried any of them yourself and what you think!

Keep Sparkling x